Review

by Michael C

Tedious retro sci-fi B-movie

Yet another black-and-white martians-invade-the-planet B-movie from the 50s, this movie sadly doesn’t live up to the peculiarity of its title. But it is filled with the iconic sci-fi props of the period: shiny and impractical spacesuits, ray guns and classic flying saucers. The aliens have an impartial towards the inhabitants of the sleepy American town but it’s sometimes hard to differentiate their performances from that of the dead-eyed teenagers. The film is made up of a series of chases up and down the town, played out in a limited Pleastantville-style set of a landing-site, police station and American home. But check out the special effects, including the ‘gargon’ alien monster herds which are essentially giant lobsters, and spectacular(ly cheap) ray-gun death scenes. Although the Martians’ behaviour and discourse are weirdly fascistic, by the end it’s all just a little too tedious.